Anticipation

About the artist

Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monique works primarily as a relief printmaker with a focus on reductive linocut relief. Largely self-taught, she credits her style to being blissfully unaware of what the perceived limitations of her medium might be. Her work is most often characterized by dozens of layers of transparent color, tight registration and a texture and depth achieved through precise and delicate carving.Unabashedly nature-inspired, Monique%u2019s subjects reflect her life in the Sierras, as well as her travels throughout the West and abroad. Her work imparts an awareness of the importance of wild spaces and an appreciation of species and habitat diversity. She strives to imbue her work with the feelings of peacefulness, serenity and wonder she experiences when observing the natural world.Monique%u2019s relief prints and etchings can be found in private collections throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe, as well as several museum collections. Her work has garnered numerous honors and awards, most notably the Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmaker Prize at the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers at NOPE2019 and inclusion in four LYWAM Birds In Art (2023-2026) exhibitions. She is a Member of the California Society of Printmakers, an Associate Member of the Society of Animal Artists and a Member with Distinction of American Women Artists. Monique is a Certified California Naturalist.Monique is represented by A Sense of Place Fine Art in Fresno, CA, Mission Gallery in New Mexico and MESH Art Gallery in Chicago, IL. She lives and works in Oakhurst, CA just outside Yosemite National Park in a husband-and-wife-built green home / studio minutes from Yosemite.

More about Monique Wales

About the artwork

Many never understand why these secretive birds are called Orange-crowned Warblers (Pacific). Their orange crowns hold just a hint of the color, at best. Hard to spot (at least for me!), with none of the usual bold or flashy markings of their other Warbler cousins, their yellow-green and gray coloring blends into oak woodlands, even in the Pacific, where they are brighter than in the East. But their cascading trills ring out from every direction during mating season. Only with luck and patience can you discover their cleverly hidden nests, tucked under rock ledges or logs, behind a curtain of ferns amongst the moss. These two are anticipating their five new chicks with a small gift!